As forward thinking as I would like to think of myself, every once in a while I find myself thinking back. I believe it is important to remember where you came from. It keeps you humble; and I probably need that! Recently we were nominated for the Chamber of Commerce Business Excellence Awards. I wrote out the answers to the questions, some were pretty hard, and I sent them in. I really thought we had a very slim chance. We are just a small, mostly family operated business. Up until this past year or so we have not had more than three employee's, choosing to do the work ourselves, for the most part. Not that I am a control freak or anything, but I do like things done a certain way. To make a long story short, we made the top three. We are all very excited and proud to be among such strong contenders; and as I said, it made me reminisce about the past and the things we have overcome. Randy and I have come from very humble beginnings. Neither one of us have had much formal education, we have learnt from doing. It takes a bit longer to get where you are going but if the goal is set you are bound to reach it, if you are diligent in your pursuit of it. We were. We never gave up, even when we thought it would be easier to close the doors and walk away. We hung in there and are now feeling the benefits of running a successful business. So on the 23rd of October we will attend the gala put on by the Chamber of Commerce and the sponsoring partners to see who will win! There will be many business who have worked hard and are deserving of this recognition and we feel proud that we have been counted among the top businesses of Kelowna!